COMMENTARY

9:58 AM MDT | August 6, 2007 | Chemical Week Editorial Staff

Crude oil and feedstock prices rose again last week, pushing spot petrochemical prices higher. Spot olefins on both sides of the Atlantic remained tight as minor supply outages in Europe and continued strong derivative demand kept markets tight. European spot ethylene in Europe was reported higher by an average of €20/m.t. with the range of prices narrowing. Few actual deals were reported, however. Spot propylene and butadiene were also higher by about €10/m.t. A butadiene outage in the U.S. Gulf limited cargoes to Europe. Spot aromatics prices were...